TESSA

We were preparing for an extended "medical leave" for our founder, when a text came in from Pima Animal Care Center. Unbelievably they had yet ANOTHER puppy that they were asking us to take!! Once we heard the details, we knew that this could possibly be Simon Draco's sister -- she was the same age, coloring and probable mix, except that Tessa has more of a shepherd's body and, if it weren't for her beautiful blue eyes, we'd swear she was a shepherd from nose to tail.

We immediately responded that we would take her, but the next text told us that the puppy had gone home with her owners. We initially thought that they had changed their minds about surrendering her, but unfortunately, it turned out that PACC only does owner surrenders by appointment, and Tessa's family had not made one. The shelter had sent them home, but intended to follow up with a subsequent appointment. When we heard this, we knew that people wanting to "dump" an animal (cute-as-a-button puppy or not), were going to get rid of that animal at their convenience, not the convenience of anyone or anything else. We immediately feared for the puppy's safety and asked the shelter to immediately reach out to them to see if they could bring Tessa back to the shelter at 6pm when our Tucson volunteer, Sara, could be there to pick her up. And so we waited ...

After a nail biting delay, we were informed that the family could not bring Tessa back to the shelter today, but could bring her back at noon tomorrow -- a day when our main transporter was not available to make the drive to Casa Grande to pick her up, we did not know if Sara was available tomorrow, not to mention not having a foster home for our newest furbaby to go to! The race was on.

The first hurdle was overcome when Sara agreed to go to the shelter tomorrow and pick up Tessa IF she was surrendered at noon as promised. We reached out to Kate (Simon's foster), to see if her mom could offer yet another puppy (she fostered Simon when we picked him up from PACC 2 weeks ago) a temporary home. Unfortunately, Joyce was heading out of town and couldn't help this time. As always, Kate was willing to help, but she was picking up Simba after neuter surgery tomorrow and could definitely not drive to Casa Grande. We were running out of options, and time.

We then reached out to Janice, our founder's daughter, who just happened to be on a hiatus from work. Could she drive to Casa Grande and pick up Tessa? You bet she could! And not only that, but she and her fiance' Adam offered to temporarily foster Tessa until we could find a more permanent placement for her! We were overjoyed. Now all that needed to happen was for the family to show up tomorrow at noon.

UPDATE 8/28: We waited out the day on pins and needles. Our deadline was 12:30p, after which our "director of operations" would be offline and unavailable for several days. As of 12:15, Tessa's family still had not shown up to surrender her. But, at 12:25 we received the text we had been waiting for. Tessa had been surrendered!! When asked what her name was by the shelter, the family replied, "Um ... Princess?" There was no other information forthcoming.

A text from Janice later that evening told us:

The package has been delivered

The ride to Phoenix with Janice

My first selfie!

Foster dad Adam was there to greet on arrival

What's that!!??

Can you text Nancy and let her know I'm OK, please?

They have food here!

Is that a real cat or ... ?

That's a real one! HELP!!!

I love my foster dad

Tessa with foster furbrother Benson

Tummy rubs ~ my favorite

Save me!!

Snoozing with foster dad Adam

Getting braver with the kitties as long as foster dad is around

FIRST FOSTER REPORT 8/29 from Janice: "Doing good. She's not sure about stuff yet. But when we were outside she got a little excited and jumped on me. Then she saw the cats...lol She has no idea what they are or if they are. She's confused by them."

I have no idea what to do with toys

Learning how to play with toys

Introduction to Benson

We are looking for a foster-to-adopt home for Tessa. Since she is a 3 - 4 month old puppy, she cannot be placed into a home where no one is home for the majority of the day. Other fursiblings are fine -- she gets along with both other dogs and cats. She will be spayed at approximately 5 to 6 months of age and will then be available for adoption.

FOSTER KITTY REPORT 9/6: "She still wants to chase them, but otherwise she has no issues with them. She just wants them to play with her. We are learning to leave them alone entirely."

UPDATE 9/8: After a successful introduction this morning, Tessa will be moving in with foster parents Annique & Chris on Wednesday.

UPDATE 9/11: Tessa moved in with her new foster family today, including foster furbrother, Jack.

Adoption fee to be determined.

If you are interested in Tessa, please fill out our PROSPECTIVE ADOPTER'S QUESTIONNAIRE. You will be contacted by return email. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please Email Nancy at WhiteGSDRescue@AOL.com. This questionnaire link is only for Tessa or other white German Shepherds on our site.
WE WILL NOT CONTACT YOU until a questionnaire has been completed.